Antiwar Committee Chicago

The Anti-War Committee Chicago began in 2012 by individuals who had successfully marched against NATO in May 2012. We organize vigils, rallies, marches, educational forums, street theater and civil disobedience actions to challenge the injustices of U.S. foreign policy. We believe in peace through justice and we stand in solidarity with oppressed people here and abroad.

Members
of the Anti-War Committee (AWC) will again submit to Boeing stock holders their
resolution calling for transparency and accountability in their sales to
Israel.

Last
year, 5% of Boeing stock holders voted for the resolution. This 5% threshold
earned the makers of the motion the right to have it submitted again at this
year’s meeting.

According to the AWC, most people have
no idea that Boeing is a major weapons contractor.

Boeing manufactures most of the
components of bombs and missiles in a recent $2 billion sale of arms to Israel,
including the guidance systems that turn regular bombs into “smart bombs.”A report by Amnesty
International –UK showed that the
bombings which caused the most casualties in Gaza in the 2014 Israeli assault
came from Boeing’s
laser guided, one ton bombs, the MK-84/GBU-31. Israel is purchasing 10,000 of
these smart bomb kits.

Text
of resolution and Board of Directors response: tinyurl.com/n4ka5an

The Center for Constitutional Rights leapt to support those of us raided by the FBI and subpoenaed to a federal grand jury in 2010. Within a few months, Michael and Margaret Ratner Kunstler published "Hell No: Your Right to Dissent in Twenty-First-Century America," which put FBI repression in the post 9/11 world, but also the decades long - centuries long - history of the U.S. ruling class attacks on democratic rights.

This morning, the Boeing
Company held its annual stockholders meeting in Chicago. Members of the
Anti-War Committee – Chicago (AWC) had submitted a resolution calling for the
corporation to prepare a report detailing its arms sales to Israel, and when
the votes were counted, Boeing’s board of directors reported that 5% of their
stockholders voted in favor of the resolution. The directors stated that 88% of
the stockholders had cast votes.

According to Kait McIntyre of the AWC, most people have no
idea that Boeing is a major weapons contractor. “If the public knew how many
weapons were being provided to the Israeli military for its wars on Gaza,
opposition to the weapons sales would grow,” she said.

Israel recently completed its largest arms deal with the
U.S., to purchase almost $2 billion in missiles, bombs, and guidance systems
for bombs. Boeing manufactures most of the components of these, including the
guidance systems that turn regular bombs into “smart bombs.” A report by
Amnesty International – UK showed that the bombings which caused the most
casualties in Gaza came from Boeing’s laser guided, one ton bombs, the
MK-84/GBU-31. Israel is purchasing 10,000 of these smart bomb kits.

AWC has been active in solidarity with the Palestinian
people since its founding in 2012. In 2014, three of its members—McIntyre,
Newland Smith, and Joe Iosbaker—were among those arrested protesting Boeing
Headquarters in Chicago during Operation Protective Edge, Israel’s devastating
assault on Gaza that killed over 2100 Palestinians.

In the past several years, members of the AWC had purchased
shares in the Boeing Company in order to bring a resolution before the
stockholders, have been working with the Interfaith Council on Corporate
Responsibility (ICCR). Sister Gwen Farry of ICCR and the 8th Day
Center for Justice spoke in favor of the resolution during the company meeting.

When the resolution was first submitted, the Boeing board of
directors refused to accept it. According to Richard Berg, who submitted it,
“The Boeing board refused to submit our resolution to the stockholders, saying
it interfered with the regular business of the company.”

On February 5th, 2016, the Securities and Exchange
Commission overruled the directors. The board
continued to oppose the resolution. “Boeing then said this sale is
controversial to a small number of individual shareholders. This is more
evidence of the growing impact of the movement to Boycott, Divest and Sanction [BDS]
Israel,” explained McIntyre.

The company has a threshold for shareholder activism. To
continue to press an issue, a resolution must achieve 3% of the votes. Newland
Smith said, “With 5%, we can continue to press this issue next year. By then,
we hope to reach the next threshold, which is 6%,so we can continue this
campaign.

Friday, April 29, 2016

Press
Conference and Rally: Chicagoans Support resolution at Boeing shareholder meeting
to increase transparency in Arms Sales to Israel

Monday, May 2

8:15 a.m.

Field Museum,
South Steps

For more information: Joe Iosbaker
773-301-0109

On May
2, 2016, five Boeing Company shareholders will attend the annual meeting to
vote for and speak in support of a resolution which will require that the
corporation prepare a report detailing its arms sales to Israel.

The
sponsoring shareholders and supporting community organizations will come
together to demonstrate public support for transparency and accountability from
Boeing Company. Sarah Simmons of the
Anti-War Committee, and a Boeing shareholder, stated, “Our goal is to prevent shareholders
from being unwitting collaborators in human rights' and international law
violations committed with weapons Boeing has manufactured and sold to Israel.”

Simmons
added, “Given that Boeing enjoys significant tax advantages here in Chicago,
and that its stock is widely held in pension funds here and elsewhere, this is
an issue that is of concern to all Chicagoans.”

Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Members of the Antiwar Committee Chicago crafted a shareholders'
proposal demanding transparency regarding Boeing's weapons sales to
Israel. Boeing initially denied the proposal but the Securities and
Exchange Commission forced Boeing to include it in the agenda and put it
to a vote by shareholders. Together with other peace groups, the
activists will hold a press conference to oppose the Boeing Company
selling weapons to the Israeli Defense Forces. Those AWC members who are
also shareholders, Newland Smith, Joe Iosbaker, Richard Berg, Sarah
Simmons, and Kait McIntyre, will attend the annual meeting of the Boeing
stock holders to argue in favor of their proposal to the other
shareholders and board.

Joining us will be the 8th Day Center
for Justice; U.S. Palestinian Community Network; and the International
Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines. Our special guests will
include a delegation of indigenous Lumad people from Mindanao in the
Southern Philippines, who are victims of human rights violations from
the U.S. war on terror.